Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” is as harrowing as its subject demands. No mainstream movie since “Schindler’s List” has merged worthy sentiment and grueling sadism with such powerfully disturbing sweep.

It looks like a scene from a classic Western: A taciturn gunslinger drifts into town and gets into a bar fight. He’s arrested by the sheriff and is about to be taken away when a cattle baron shows up, accuses him of theft and threatens to take the law into his own hands.

Pfizer Inc., with almost $27 billion in its existing cash hoard, will add more with the $12 billion sale of its infant nutrition unit, opening the way for buybacks that will help shore up the shares as the company cycles in new products over the next several years.

Given its unfortunate title, you might think “ Dinner for Schmucks ” is a gross-out comedy. In fact, it’s a sophisticated, clever adaptation of a French film featuring a cute collection of stuffed mice, a blind fencer and a bird that eats out of a man’s mouth.